By: Cassandra Clare
Published: March 19, 2013 by Margaret K. McElderry Books
568 pages
Source: Personal Library
(Goodreads / Amazon / Book Depository)
Summary:
Danger and betrayal, secrets and enchantment in the breathtaking conclusion to the Infernal Devices trilogy.My Review:
Tessa Gray should be happy - aren't all brides happy?
Yet as she prepares for her wedding, a net of shadows begins to tighten around the Shadowhunters of the London Institute.
A new demon appears, one linked by blood and secrecy to Mortmain, the man who plans to use his army of pitiless automatons, the Infernal Devices, to destroy the Shadowhunters. Mortmain needs only one last item to complete his plan. He needs Tessa. And Jem and Will, the boys who lay equal claim to Tessa's heart, will do anything to save her.
My thoughts are really all over the map as I have just finished this book and though it took me quite a long time to finish it, simply because I couldn't get my head back in the game of reading, it turned out to really envelope me emotionally. I literally cried through chapter 23 and the Epilogue. I also found it to be quite satisfying as the ending of the trilogy. Bittersweet feelings for sure as with any trilogy that the story is "over". As I try to keep my reviews spoiler free, let me just say I was pleasantly surprised by my overall feeling of the book upon completion. In the beginning having such a hard time getting into the book I thought "oh boy, I have to read nearly 600 pages on something I'm just viewing as average..." However that really was my own attitude and not in any way an indication of the book itself because after about 100 pages (which is only through chapter 5 mind you) I was hooked. I was down for about a month, maybe more, in a reading slump and the timing just wasn't right for me to pick this one up at the start but I'm super glad I came back to it and finished it. I would have missed out greatly had I not read the ending to a great story. The conclusion left me very satisfied.
Now to the good stuff...and be prepared for quotes because the entire book had a lot of great ones that I absolutely must add in my review.
Aw...Jem...and Will....these 2 guys have got to be at the top of my favorite male leads in a book list. I can't pick just one as a favorite, though I know many are huge fans of Will, but I can't pick between them (much like Tessa). From their incredibly loyal and deeply connected friendship to their undying love of the same woman, they are what puts the "awe" in "awesome". The relationship between these guys is more than just friendship and more than brotherhood. Honestly I'm not so sure we have any relationship in life that even comes close to the parabatai relationship. At its core is the principal of undying love and sacrifice and devotion.
"Jem has always given me exactly what I needed in the way I needed it, even when I did not know myself what I required." (Will)
Tessa loves Jem and at the end of book 2, Clockwork Prince, she has agreed to marry him. It's not pity that she feels for him, though he is dying, but it's admiration mixed with love. But her heart is torn because she also deeply loves Will. Is it possible to have this kind of deep love for two people at the same time though? That is a question she battles with.
"A heart divided against itself cannot stand, as they say. You love them both, and it tears you apart." (Magnus)
"It was a near incomprehensible tangle, the three of them, but there was one certainty, and that was that there was no lack of love between them."
There are many stories being told in this one book, well this whole trilogy really. Aside from the main characters Jem, Will and Tessa, this book also wraps up nicely the stories of Gabriel, Gideon, Cecily, Sophie, Charlotte and Henry. All of the side cast characters are ones that the reader grows attached to through the trilogy, of which I was quite fond of all of them. I would have been disappointed had their story lines not had some closure as well.
At the heart this is a story of love. Love of fellow shadowhunters, love of friendship, love of brotherhood, love of soul mates, love of family. For me, these words best describe the themes of this book: love, devotion, loyalty and honor.
Favorite Quotes:
"It was like I saw your soul in the notes of the music. And it was beautiful." (Tessa)
"Our hearts, they need a mirror, Tessa. We see our better selves in the eyes of those who love us. And there is beauty that brevity alone provides." (Jem)
"Sometimes one must choose whether to be kind or honorable...sometimes one cannot be both." (Will)
"...the end of life is the sum of the love that was lived in it..." (Magnus)
"Come back to me. For I cannot bear to lose all my heart." (Will)
"You are the first dream of my soul, and from that dream I hope will come all other dreams, a lifetime's worth."
"Life is a book, and there are a thousand pages I have not yet read. I would read them together with you, as many as I can, before I die --"
"Most people are lucky to have even one great love in their life. You have found two."
If you are a fan of The Mortal Instruments and The Infernal Devices, then it's a no brainer. You MUST read this book. If you haven't yet checked out these series by Cassandra Clare I HIGHLY recommend them.
Final Rating - 5 stars!
